Leave Prince Albert where he is

Sir, – John Naughton (Letters, February 12th) suggests that the overlooked statue of Prince Albert be removed from outside Leinster House, as it is an “anachronistic reminder of our colonised past”.

Our colonised past is just as much a part of our national story as our post-independence past. The century under the union is looked upon with State-sanctioned disdain in this country but this does not change the inconvenient fact that it helped to shape us as a distinct nation and transformed us as a state. Despite common belief, the union (and the British monarchs who reigned over it) enjoyed broad support and acceptance in Ireland throughout this time, including while Albert was alive. He is a (smaller) part of our history too.

Since independence, we have chosen to remain the English-speaking parliamentary democracy that we became during the union years. After a century of freedom, our state and its institutions remain directly patterned on those established during the union and carried over by the Anglo-Irish Treaty, with only the most superficial changes. What does this mean?

We cannot properly understand our present without remembering our past. In this modern era, ignoring inconvenient facts about our past or attempting to hide aspects that some find embarrassing or shameful seems truly anachronistic. Leave Prince Albert where he is. – Yours, etc,